1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the cleaning industry. More particularly, it pertains to a unique product for wiping over screens, either in place or removed from their location, to remove dirt, dust, pollen, and other debris from the screen without destroying the product.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Window and door screens are in common use in many homes, apartments, condominiums, and the like, as well as in various areas in industry. Screens allow passage of air yet prevent entry of many undesirable elements such as birds, insects, blowing leaves, etc. Screens allow fresh air to enter a dwelling to blow away the stale and/or particle-laden air inside the dwelling that can be caused by smoking, pets, or quickly moving persons like children at play.
In industry, screens are widely used to prevent the inflow or outflow of large particulate material while allowing passage of air, gasses, and liquids that are involved in industrial applications ranging from coal burning to chemical preparation to air conditioning. Without screens, furniture, machines, and most importantly humans, would be subject to large amounts of particulate matter that could seriously affect the finish on the furniture, the smooth operation of the machine, and the health of the person.
During operation, screens become coated with grime, dust, fibers, threads and other material that, while responsive to the needs to use the screen in the first place, requires cleaning to allow the screen to maintain their efficiency and strain more grime, dust, fibers, threads and other material from the passing fluid stream, be it liquid or gas.
The prior art has exhibited a number of methods of cleaning screens. One way is to remove them to a remote location and subject them to hosing with water cleaning liquid. This is often accompanied with a bare pre-brushing, a soapy water pre-brushing, or an after-scrubbing with a soapy solution. With larger screens, some are cleaned in place by blasts of compressed air, pressurized water, and, in some extreme cases, with pressurized flames. Further, screens many times have to be removed from their mounting, washed, dried, and remounted. Without removing the screens, some of the loosened debris, caught in the screen, may find its way into the house, into a machine or into one's lungs.
Cleaning screens in place has many disadvantages that have, heretofore, prevented many products from being employed. The biggest problem has to do with the rough surface of the screen itself. While brushes will dislodge debris from a mounted screen, the dislodged debris becomes air borne and will cause problems interior the area where the screen is mounted. Most mounted screens cannot be cleaned with a blast of air or water or flames, as aforesaid, and the screen must be de-mounted for this type of cleaning.
Cloths, rags, and paper wipes have not been found useful for a number of reasons. They degrade and fall apart when passed across the rough surface and the degradation adds to the debris already on the screen. Much of this type of cleaning results in more debris added to the screen or cloths and rags that are no longer useful for further cleaning or that require washing, to remove the debris, and repairing before later use on screens. Fiberous wipes, on the other hand, have heretofore not been found useful because they also degrade and fall apart when passed over the rough surface of the screen. Wetting the wipes has not been successful either as the mere act of wetting them begins the degrading process that allows them to fall apart before they become effective in cleaning the screen. Even spun fiber wipes, both wet and dry, have been found unusable in cleaning screens. In addition, using them requires such a large number of them to be used such that the overall process is not cost effective.